1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sheet dispensing device adapted for use with copying machines and the like, and in one aspect to a dispensing device which is operated manually to dispense the sheet and actuate the copy machine. The invention includes a novel container for holding the sheets within the dispensing device, making it easy to refill the dispensing device. 2. Brief Description of the Invention
The invention relates to a sheet dispensing device in particular for use with copying machines, comprising a space defined inside a housing by lateral guides for inserting a container containing a stack of sheets, which container is open at one of its end faces as well as at least at a portion of its surface extending parallel with respect to the sheets, the device further comprising a conveyor designed to take along the uppermost sheet, and a separator designed to retain all sheets with the exception of the uppermost sheet, wherein the conveyor and separator can be raised and lowered for adaptation to the height of the stack of sheets. Sheet dispensing devices of this kind can be used in addition to their use with copying machines for instance also with microfilm apparatuses, daylight projectors and other apparatuses which use up or use sheets, films or the like, which are fed individually from a stack.
The invention relates furthermore to a container for such a sheet dispensing device from which one end face and an adjacent portion of the upper side parallel with respect to the sheets and corresponding at least to the space needed for the conveyor and the separator may be removed. The container may for example be made of carton board, wherein removing the end face and the portion adjacent thereto of the upper side is effected readily by tearing it off, and the container is discarded when its content has been used up. The container may be designed also for repeated use and manufactured then for instance of plastics or sheet material. In this case, its one end face and the portion adjacent thereto of its upper side may be connected to the main portion of the container by means of a tear-open or tear-off strip for example. It is essential that the container in its closed condition protects the stack of sheets contained in it against damage being caused e.g., by light or moisture, and that when the container is opened and inserted into the sheet dispensing device the stack of sheets and the separator can cooperate and the uppermost sheet can in each case be gripped by the conveyor.
It is therefore an object of the invention to design a sheet dispensing device and a container of the kind specified, in such a manner that only a few manipulations, preferably by one hand only, are necessary to insert a container with its content into the sheet dispensing device and to make the sheet dispensing device operative.
According to one aspect of the invention the initial insertion of a container results in, an upward movement of the conveyor and the separator from a lower end position into an upper position and the continued insertion of the container results in a subsequent lowering of the conveyor and the separator into an operative position, in which both rest against the uppermost sheet. These operations are actuated by at least one projection of the container.
Apart from inserting the container the user has nothing to do to bring the conveyor and the separator into their operative positions and to thereby make the sheet dispensing device operative. The user can thus center his entire attention on inserting the container and in doing so easily avoid damaging the uppermost sheet for instance by prints or by an inadmissibly long exposure to light.
The sheet dispensing device according to the invention can be constructed in that at least one lifting device, each, being guided or journalled in the housing is associated with the conveyor and with the separator for the upward movement. The lifting device is actuated by the action of the projection or projections of said container, upon insertion of the container. The lifting device is released as soon as the container has reached an end position in the housing. The action of the projection or of the projections onto the lifting devices can be a direct one or an indirect one via intermediately connected elements. When here and in the following description reference is made to the lifting device for the conveyor, this refers to at least the one lifting device being associated with the conveyor. For reasons of stability it is useful to arrange at each side of the space for the container in the housing of the sheet dispensing device one lifting device, each, for the conveyor and accordingly one lifting device, each, for the separator.
The lifting devices may for instance be guided parallel with respect to each other and movable in upward direction in the housing of the sheet dispensing device. In one embodiment of the invention that is preferred because of the simplicity of construction and troublefree operation, each of the lifting devices is however pivotally supported on a substantially horizontally and transversely extending transverse axis.
According to another aspect of the invention a rocker is associated to each of the lifting devices. The rocker comprises a ramp extending in the rest position in a direction obliquely to the direction of insertion for causing an upward movement of the associated lifting device upon insertion of the container due to the action thereof. The ramp, however, will yield upon withdrawal of the container from the housing without forcing the associated lifting device to move.
The rocker associated with the lifting device for the conveyor is preferably pivotally supported at the said lifting device and is biased such that its ramp rises in the rest position in a direction opposite to the direction of insertion, namely to the rear, and intersects the path on which the, or a, projection of the container moves upon insertion. The respective projection of the container in this case acts directly on the rocker.
It is furthermore of advantage for the lifting device associated with the conveyor to have a detent for a traverse of the conveyor so that the conveyor cannot be moved forwardly as long as it is supported by the said lifting device and not by the stacks of sheets. In this way incorrect operation of the sheet dispensing device and of the copying machine or the like having been set into operation possibly by the said device, is avoided. Whenever the conveyor cannot be moved forwardly the user at once sees that he has to insert a container with a stack of sheets into the sheet dispensing device, or that a container already having been inserted has not reached its end position.
The traverse is appropriately mounted to a yoke at which at least one roller is journalled adapted to be rolled off on the uppermost sheet upon rearward movement of the conveyor, and locking upon forward movement, whereby the uppermost sheet is displaced.
The construction described in the foregoing can be further improved in that the yoke is supported on a carrier arm so as to be pivotable about a mediam axis arranged parallel with respect to the direction of insertion, approximately in the middle between the lateral guides. A carrier arm is in turn supported so as to be pivotable about a lateral axis extending parallel with respect to the direction of insertion on a conveyor slide being reciprocable along the lateral axis and biased to the rear. This ensures that the, or each, roller rests evenly on the uppermost sheet and consequently upon the forward movement of the conveyor can exert a uniform thrust onto the uppermost sheet; hence there is no danger that the uppermost sheet is turned upon its being moved forwardly.
Furthermore, it is useful for the described lateral axis to project through an opening in the housing upon forward movement of the conveyor and to be provided for operating a copying machine or the like. This correlates readily the actuation of the conveyor and the thereby caused pushing out of the sheet from the sheet dispensing device and the actuation of the device connected downstream. The user can thus for instance initiate a copying operation simply by actuating the conveyor of the sheet dispensing device. It is actually of no importance in what manner the mentioned lateral axis of the sheet dispensing device actuates the device connected downstream; it can act for example on a push button of an electric switch.
The rocker associated with the lifting device for the separator is preferably supported at an abutment slide reciprocable parallel with respect to the direction of insertion and is biased such that its ramp rises in the rest position in the direction of insertion, i.e. in forward direction. The abutment slide is preferably biased in the rearward direction and has an abutment by means of which it is taken along in the forward direction, upon insertion of the container, by the projection thereof. Moreover, the lifting device for the separator is preferably a two-armed lever which supports the separator with its front arm and at its rear arm has a follower member which is pressed down by the ramp upon forward movement of the abutment slide and is again released from the ramp in the end position of the container. This embodiment is particularly useful for a corner separator and ensures that said separator reaches its operative position by an insertion of the container, in which the corners of the separator rest on the front corners of the uppermost sheet.
In the last described embodiment the front arm of the lifting device for the separator is preferably biased downwardly and is connected to the separator only loosely. Thereby it is ensured that said lifting device does not have any influence on the pressure with which the separator rests on the uppermost sheet when the container is completely inserted. This pressure is dependent preferably only on the weight of the separator, in other words the pressure is independent of the height of the stack of sheets.
In all of the embodiments of the sheet dispensing device according to the invention, as described so far, it is useful for the lateral guides in the housing each to have an upper edge along which the projection disposed at the respective side of the container may move. This is, above all, of advantage in case the container is made of carton and its projections are therefore not particularly resistant to bending so that they need to be supported on the upper edges of the guides, in order not to be bent by the elements of the sheet dispensing device with which they cooperate, in particular the rockers.
The projections of the container can principally be arranged at any place at the upper side, at the under side, at one side wall or at both side walls of the container. For the cooperation with the sheet dispensing device according to the invention a container is however particularly useful in which flange-like enlargements of the upper side of the container are provided as projections.
In this case the projections extend preferably alongside of the entire removable portion and alongside of approximately half of the remaining portion of the upper side of the container.